Atherton steps out to the crease

I think congratulations are in order. It seems a chef has parted ways with Gordon Ramsey without the media tears and tantrums!

Jason Atherton is current head chef at Ramsey's one-star Maze and is soon to step out of bosses' enormous shadow to launch his own, as yet, unnamed restaurant.

Rewind 2 years or so and I was nursing a truly horrific New Years Day hangover and in bursts my housemate and proclaims that we were off to Maze for Bloody Marys and bloody steak! Sadly I could only fully enjoy one of these (I had foolishly agreed for a charity alcohol detox that involved no drinking for 2 months). This was my first experience of Maze and their 'beef-board' brought to our table by a handsome, trim young man (who clearly never ate any of this stuff!), where you pick the cut and weight of the beef you so desire. I still have dreams about the Wagyu - one day I will have you my friend - but it was slightly out of my price range, so I plumped for the more reasonable Casterbridge onglet. Served with fries and Bearnaise sauce and served on the now commonplace wooden board, it was a hugely satisfactory start to 2009.

So what could be more promising than Sheffield-born Atherton - former student of culinary giants such as Pierre Koffmann, Marco Pierre White, Oliver Peyton and the first Brit to train at the world's greatest restaurant, El Bulli (Ferran Adrià), plus of course, Ramsey. It has all the ingredients for something truly special.



I'm also a huge fan of Atherton's recent publication 'Gourmet Food For A Fiver' (actually £5 a head, i.e, if the recipe serves 4 then you should be able to pick up all the ingredients for about £20). It's a relatively new book and I only picked it up recently, but it is already well thumbed and it reads beautifully, has tantalising pictures of every recipe, plus a new spin - plating up tips.

I've only made one meal from the book so far - a gorgeous lamb steak with butternut squash, pecorino and pine nuts, but much like Atherton, the book and his new restaurant; it could end up being not only one of the best, but one of my personal favourites!

COOKING GETS SLIGHTLY TOUGHER YEAR AFTER YEAR!

Another series of Masterchef over and another very worthy winner has triumphed. Dhruv Baker, 34, was simply magnificent through pretty much the entire series and wowed not just the judges but myself with his gorgeous looking food - how it must have tasted I can only image (and hope to discover one day if Dhruv's career goes the same way as 2009 winner Matt Follas who now runs his own restaurant, The Wild Garlic in Dorset) and Greg even described him as having the 'palate of an angel'.

The first time Dhruv walked into the Masterchef kitchen he looked a potential winner and his first dish of duck with upwards of 20 herbs and spices marked him out as one of the contestants to beat. He went into the final against the very talented food blogger, Alex Rushmer, and paediatrician Tim Kinnaird. But they didn't quite cut it I'm afraid.

Here's Dhruv's winning menu:

Starter: Spiced lobster with baby fennel, celeriac puree, saffron buerre noisette & fennel chilli mayonnaise
Main: Roasted loin of venison with spiced confit chestnuts, carrots, curly kale, venison jus and chilli chocolate oil
Dessert: Masala tea ice cream with spiced Sauternes poached pear and chocolate truffle

Sounds good huh? Actually, shall we have a look at his main?


Masterchef is probably my favourite show on telly when it's on. I haven't missed an episode for at least 3 series and the idea of John and Greg finding a genuine cooking talent with the desire and passion to change their life is quite inspiring!

I actually got riled up when they had such complete morons 'competing' in the early rounds of the latest series. ARGH! Give me a go! I can do better! And I really want to give it a go, but I guess Masterchef is primarily an entertainment programme and suffers from the same pitfalls of X-Factor - you need the embarrassingly rubbish people as well as the talents to make the format entertaining.

Who knows, if I got the chance to work in a professional kitchen I may just love it! I love those moments when you're slaving over the cooking, sweating, you're hot and bothered, but then it all comes together and you turn out a perfect meal. It's almost euphoric. I really wish my uncle still had his pub in Devon. I'd love to head down now and spend a week doing work experience in his kitchen. I think I may have missed my best opportunity.

Well, I've applied for the next series so we'll see if I get a lucky break this time around. I really want to do it and I think I could do well! Bring it on...

I WANT COOKING TO GET TOUGHER!



Read about the Masterchef final here and follow Dhruv on Twitter here.